It's been a long time since I've heard two songs from the same artist that are as opposite as the A- and B-sides of Kirin J. Callinan's WIIW single. The title track is a frantic explosion of theatrical anger, a throbbing, echoing bassline doubled over with threatening paranoid whispers. But “Thighs”, the B-side, is a torch song, just guitar and Callinan enchanting us with his dramatic baritone. It's a song of seduction, as you can probably imagine: people only talk about thighs when they are ready to inspect what's in between them. The woman is a young dancer, and Kirin is ready to pull her into his world, making promises that he almost certainly has no intention of keeping, like “we'll get married behind the shed,” and “your dad won't know”. Even if the results are equally sinister, the range of Callinan's musical ideas means that we must keep an eye out for what surprises any LP would hold.
WIIW is out July 31 from Siberia Records in Callinan's native Australia/Japan/NZ etc, or in the US on Terrible.
